Syracuse Chiefs Media Day 2011Dreary, wet weather didn't dampen the optimism of new manager Randy Knorr and the Syracuse Chiefs as they met the media at Alliance Bank Stadium on the eve of opening day of the 2011 season.

Syracuse, N.Y. -- He was just a kid back in the early ’90s. A back-up catcher for the Toronto Blue Jays. Tall, lean and wide-eyed. And there he was, with bat in hand, walking up to the plate at Yankee Stadium for the first time in his young life.

And, oh, Randy Knorr was in his heaven.

“I go up to hit and Matt Nokes is catching,” recalled Knorr the other day. “And I was kind of smiling. And Nokes says, ‘Why are you smiling?’ And I say, ‘Man, I’m in the same box as Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Yogi Berra and all of those guys.’

He has more than a few memories, Knorr has. He did, after all, play in 19 professional seasons in 16 ever-changing uniforms in nine leagues in two countries -- starting in Medicine Hat (in 1986), finishing in Edmonton (in 2004) and winning two World Series rings with Toronto in between.

So, Randy Knorr can spin a story. And he can share his knowledge. And as the new manager of the Syracuse Chiefs -- their seventh different skipper in nine seasons -- he’ll likely do a lot of both over these next five months.

Frank Ordoñez /The Post-StandardRandy Knorr says he identifies most with former Chiefs manager Bob Bailor, who guided Syracuse to its last first-place finish in the International League in 1989.

And, sure, you’ll recognize him on Wednesday afternoon when the Chiefs are scheduled to open the home portion of the 2011 International League campaign at Alliance Bank Stadium against the Pawtucket Red Sox. You’ll recognize him because Knorr played in our town in each of four summers -- 1991, ’92, ’95 and ’96 -- hitting 17 homers and driving in 82 runs in 152 cumulative games.

“Syracuse is a special place for me,” he said. “I was sent to Toronto in the big leagues from here. You always remember where you were sent to the big leagues from.”

Well, Randy’s back. Or he will be on Wednesday after his club completes its six-game season-opening swing at Buffalo and Lehigh Valley. And he’ll be running the show just as some had forecast way back when.

Why, when Knorr was just a 17-year-old kid out of Baldwin Park High School in southern California, Bobby Mattick, the Blue Jays’ farm director at the time, suggested that Randy take part in an Instructional League outfield drill because what he’d learn that day might come in handy if ever he decided to try his hand at managing.

And later, when his playing career was winding down, Knorr was told by both Jeff Torborg and Felipe Alou, who’d combine for 2,406 games as major-league skippers, that he had the look of a guy whose foot belonged on the top step of a dugout.

The Post-Standard, 1995Randy Knorr looks for a chance to steal a base during a 1995 game against Richmond at MacArthur Stadium.

And here he is, assuming the position and sounding the part.

“Smart ballplayers,” said Knorr, who has managed the last five years in Savannah, Potomac and Harrisburg. “That’s what I want. Doesn’t matter if we run or hit homers. I want smart ballplayers. You prepare your guys before. You prepare your guys after. But 7 to 10 (as in, 7 o’clock to 10 o’clock)? You really can’t do much.

“You try to put them in the right spots and get them ready to go. But you can’t throw it, catch it or hit it. Every so often you toss a hit-and-run at them or bring a pitcher into the game, but that’s all you can do. If you train the players and they’re smart, they’re going to do it for you.”

He learned from Mattick and Torborg and Alou and all those others on the way to, and in, the big leagues (where he suited up for Toronto, Houston, Florida, Texas and Montreal). But the guy Knorr most identifies with? That would be Bob Bailor, who ran the Chiefs for four seasons between 1988-’91 and led them to a first-place IL finish -- this burg’s last such thing -- in ’89.

“I really enjoyed him,” declared the 42-year-old Knorr who admitted he could not say the same of all his bosses. “I liked watching him do the things he did. I have a lot of Bailor in me. He kept it loose. He was kind of a wise guy, I guess you could say, when he tried to explain things. He’d make his point, but he’d lighten it up a little bit. I kind of use that style, myself, although I know there are times when you have to crack down on a player.”

Apparently, the smart ones on Knorr’s watch won’t need to much worry about that. That is, as long as there is some talent and some effort mixed in with the brains -- a blend that has forever worked well for Randy, who has used it to connect the dots.

He did, after all, play is first pro game in 1986 and his last pro game in 2004 . . . and he managed his first pro game in 2005 and, assuming the weather gods smile, will manage his next pro game this afternoon against those IronPigs just south of here. Which pretty much makes for a long, unbroken line and for countless stories along the way.

Including the one about that Yankee Stadium batter’s box 20 feet away.

(Bud Poliquin's columns, his “To The Point” observations and his freshly-written on-line commentaries appear virtually every day on syracuse.com. His work can also be regularly found on the pages of The Post-Standard newspaper. Additionally, he can be heard Mondays through Fridays (10 a.m.-12 noon), on the "Bud & the Manchild" sports-talk radio show on The Score 1260-AM. E-mail: bpoliquin@syracuse.com.)